Billy Hirschfeld, UW signee, pulling double duty this week

Whitewater – Billy Hirschfeld has been busy commuting this week – from the Wisconsin campus to UW-Whitewater and then back to his new college home at night.

Hirschfeld, a standout defensive lineman at Arrowhead High School who signed with UW in February, starts the day by working out with his new UW teammates.

He finishes the day practicing with the South (large schools) team set to participate in the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association all-star games Saturday at UW-Oshkosh.

Three of his new UW teammates – offensive linemen George Panos and Jake Maxwell and defensive end Conor Sheehy – elected not to participate in the all-star game and instead chose to focus on preparing for their first season at UW.

All four players hope to crack the UW two-deep.

“I’m still doing that because I don’t want to fall behind later on,” Hirschfeld said this week when asked about his morning workouts in Madison.

Hirschfeld never contemplated skipping the large-schools all-star game, which starts at 5 p.m.

“When I make a commitment I like to stay committed to it,” he said. “The other guys had their reasons why they didn’t want to do it. That is fine for them.

“For me, I didn’t want to miss out on this. I’m not regretting it at all because I’m making a lot of new friends. I’m enjoying it.”

Hirschfeld, 6-foot-6 and 272 pounds, was a first-team all-state pick as a junior and senior at Arrowhead. He isn’t sure, however, whether he will be able to play as a freshman despite the fact UW must replace four of its top six defensive linemen from last season.

“My goal is to just work my butt off,” said Hirschfeld, who is set to start out at strong-side defensive end. “It is hard to start as a freshman or even play as a freshman.

“So as long as I’m running, working out in the weight room and making sure I know the plays I’ll have a chance to be put in the rotation and be playing on that field.”

Hirschfeld reportedly had scholarship offers from Nebraska, Michigan State, North Carolina State, Pittsburgh and other schools before choosing to play for Gary Andersen at UW.

“He wasn’t talking about the program that much,” Hirschfeld said when asked about his initial conversation with Andersen. “What stuck out to me the most from our conversation was that he was going to care about me.

“He was going to make sure that I get through college and if I’m not going to play in the NFL to make sure that that I graduate and get my degree.”

UW, which signed 25 players for the 2014 freshman class, has secured 15 oral commitments for the 2015 freshman class.

Andersen hopes to have the bulk of the class committed before the Aug. 30 opener against LSU and the staff made significant strides toward that goal in June.

UW had six commitments through the end of May and added nine in June. That latter number included seven during a span from June 12 through June 18.

The nine June commitments came from seven states – Texas, Florida, New Jersey, Missouri, California, Illinois and Georgia.

UW’s previous six commitments came from Utah, California, Florida, Wisconsin and Michigan.

It is clear the staff is casting a wide net by using contacts established before Andersen came to UW.

The decision to get back into the state of Texas is interesting. Before this recruiting cycle, UW’s last scholarship players from Texas came in 2008 – defensive backs Marcus Cromartie, Devin Smith and Shelton Johnson.